There’s been a lot of emphasis on STEM education — science, technology, engineering and math — across the Valley and the country.
Some schools focus mainly on those subjects.
But increasingly, educators are urging going from STEM to STEAM — that is, to add in the arts. One such district is Queen Creek Unified. Tiffannie Sechrist is career and technical education director there.
STEAM education at Queen Creek starts as early as preschool in some schools.
Advocates of STEAM say students who have arts as well as science, math and the other STEM subjects are more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and school attendance.
This is something Punya Mishra looks at. Mishra is the associate dean for Scholarship and Innovation at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers’ College at ASU.
